Out of Reach
by Ayumu Foxtail-chan
Summary: He got her. He just understood her in a way it seemed no one else did, and even in times of aggravation, he'd understand, keeping his distance and helping her in ways she was eternally grateful for. ―GaLe


**Just a random little GaLe thingy. I hope you enjoy! :D**

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_**Out of Reach**_

She was tired of his help. Absolutely sick and tired of it. At first when he'd help her, whether it be something as small as handing her the pen she was looking for, or something as big as stepping in front of her and taking a hit during battle, she was grateful.

When he lifted her up by the scruff of her neck and quite frankly _told_ her he was going to be her partner in the S Class exams, that'd been the first time he'd helped her. Technically she guessed taking Laxus' bolt of lightning was the first, but she considered the S-Class Exams to be the very first time he said he'd help her.

She'd been thankful, in a way, back then. She wasn't physically strong and it was glaringly obvious, so having a partner as burly and large as he was really made a difference. She could use her magic in different ways now. She could use it to support him, she could use it without trying to defend herself, trusting he'd be there, and he'd have her back. She grew immensely because of his help, even though she wasn't sure if he realized it.

And it was because of that growth that suddenly she didn't want his help anymore. For someone like her, someone as intellectually inclined as a scholar, the thought of being unable to grow and change and learn on her own was nearly devastating.

If he hadn't have signed up as her partner, she wasn't sure where she'd be. She knew she'd be a lot weaker, and she knew she would probably still be stuck in a magical rut, unable to find new ways to wield the Solid Script she loved so much. And for some reason that frustrated her.

She should be able to grow on her own, without his help. His stupid help. She wasn't helpless; she could take care of herself. No one seemed to think she could, but she could.

And so Levy set out on her own little personal journey to avoid his help. She told herself she'd practice in the mornings, without him, and then take little side jobs during the day on her own, ones that would start off easy, and then she'd work her way up to more difficult quests.

It'd seemed like a foolproof plan, that was, until he showed up beside her every single morning.

She'd been jogging around Magnolia, figuring she'd start with physical stamina. She was proud of herself, getting up at the crack of dawn to do physical training, something she'd never even dreamed of doing. And then she heard some loud and heavy footsteps behind her and then there he was, right beside her, barely even having to jog to keep up with her near-sprinting pace. He looked amused, a big fat smirk on his face as he looked down at her out of the corner of his eye.

She swore she could hear his thoughts. _'Oy, Shrimp's actually runnin'. Never thought I'd see this day.'_ And it annoyed her. So she ran faster… and he kept up.

When she made it back to her apartment, a sweaty and panting mess she glared down out the window at him, still standing in front of her door. He was looking around idly, his breathing normal and not even an ounce of strain on his face. He tsked to himself before shrugging and taking off into a sprint. A sprint much faster than she could ever manage.

She realized that he hadn't been "challenged" by her morning run, and so had decided to do one of his own. And that just made her even angrier. She just couldn't get away from him, and not only that, but he always outdid her.

She huffed.

She continued with her plan. She went jogging some mornings –and he would find her and jog with her, although it was still more of a fast walk for him- and some mornings she decided she'd just work on her magic. He showed up then too. She went to the most remote place she could find, and yet there he was, grinning amusedly at her as she wore herself thin, leaning up against a tree with his arms crossed.

He never said anything, but his expression said it all. He was beyond intrigued that she was suddenly training so hard, but he didn't want to say anything. He was right. If he would've poked fun she probably would've stormed off.

She just couldn't get away from him and his help. She wanted to get stronger on her own, and yet there he was around every corner.

Those jobs she said she'd go on were a bust as well. She'd sneak out in the middle of the night, job request in hand, and he'd be around the next corner, yawning and asking where they were going this time.

_They_ weren't going anywhere. _She _was going on a job, but he never seemed to catch on, instead walking right beside her, shielding her from harm on the job, and in the end, not really allowing her to take part at all. She figured he thought he was doing her a favor, but really, it just frustrated her more.

She didn't want his help anymore. She wanted to be independent. Whenever she was satisfied with that independence, _then _he could start helping her again, because by then, she could probably hold her own and she wouldn't need that much help after all. She was just sick and tired of being saved by him.

The frustration boiled in her chest for a long time, and after a while, she was desperate. She was teetering on the edge when she was around him. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she really wanted to yell at him, tell him to leave her alone for one of these jobs, tell him to back off and give her a chance.

But there he was, still by her side seemingly every waking minute of every day. She just couldn't be allowed that growth she so wanted, could she?

It wasn't until nearly one month after she'd decided to be independent that she'd finally had it. He was nowhere, and she was in her apartment, which could easily be passed off as a small library. She was mumbling to herself angrily, spitting words at him, at her own weaknesses, really just anything she was angry with at the moment.

She'd decided maybe she'd trick him and strengthen herself in a different way. She could study those books she'd read a thousand times and scour them for new ideas for her magic. How was that tricking him? He wouldn't touch anything knowledge-related with a ten foot pole, so surely he'd leave her be if she began immersing herself in her reading again.

Her eyes scanned the shelves, finally resting on a book on the second to top shelf. It was a book on water-based magic, that of which she'd always had a little bit of a weakness with. She could conjure up "water" but anything more than that would just crumble in a puddle on the floor. Maybe if she read through that book again, she could master some other forms of Solid Script magic revolving around water, maybe even ice.

She looked around her room for the stool she used to reach the higher shelves, only to come up empty. Her eyebrows pinched together. That's right, one of the legs had popped off and she hadn't gotten around to fixing it, what with her "physical training" and all, which had turned out to be pretty useless.

She frowned and looked up at the book again. Eh, she could still get it. She made her way over to the shelf, placing her foot on the first shelf and hoisting herself up. She reached… and was still easily a few feet short. She climbed up another shelf, teetering and reaching again. Still short. She sighed and lifted her foot again, trying to get it situated on the next shelf and failing. The books were nearly out to the edge, she didn't have any room for her feet.

She stared up at the desired book. She was going to get that damn thing even if it killed her. She steadied herself, eyeing the book like it was her prey, biting her lip and readying herself to jump for it.

"Woah there, what'cha doin', Shortie?" She squeaked in surprise, losing her footing immediately and careening backward and off of the shelf. She scrambled for something to hang on to but came up empty, plummeting backward.

She let out an, "oof," as she halted, her eyes facing the ground, wide and surprised as she hovered above the carpet, without hitting the floor. He had caught her around the midsection and she was lying limp as a ragdoll in his grasp. He hoisted her up and plopped her onto her feet, which were both rather shaky at the moment. She blinked, trying to wrap her head around what had happened before daring a peek up at his face. He was smirking again, and all of that anger and frustration toward him came right back. He'd saved her yet again.

"You okay?" he asked, amused.

"I'm fine," she snapped, crossing her arms. "I would've been fine even if you wouldn't have… caught me," she said, puffing out her cheeks and looking to the side.

"Oh really?" he mused. She waited for him to make a big deal of it, but he didn't, instead reaching up and plucking the book she'd been searching for from the shelf and handing it to her. "You were tryin' to get this?"

Her face turned a bright red, half in embarrassment and half in anger. She snatched it from his grasp, glaring up at him. He looked a little surprised by the venom in her stare, and she had to admit she was a little surprised by exactly how much hate she was boring into him with her gaze. "I said I didn't need your help," she spat.

"Well it looked to me like ya did," he retorted. "You would'a been a splat on the floor _and _would've still been bookless if I hadn'ta shown up." He looked smug.

That was it. "_Dammit_, Gajeel!" she yelled. That sure looked like it surprised him. "Just let me be!" She shoved a finger toward him. "I don't need your stupid help or your stupid comments, or _you_ at all! I can do things on my own! Just _get out_ and leave me the hell alone!"

Her words seemingly hung in the air. Her throat caught in surprise but she figured it was too late to back down now. She squinted in anger at him and motioned toward the door.

It was silent as he stared at her, his eyes wide and searching hers for some sort of explanation of her sudden outburst. His mouth opened briefly but it appeared he thought better of it and gave her a light nod, robotically turning around and sulking out the door.

It closed with a light click behind him and she crumbled, collapsing in a heap on the floor and staring at the door wide-eyed and baffled.

What had she just done? She hadn't yelled at a single person in her entire life, let alone her _partner. _She'd never lost her temper before, heck, she'd never even gotten really angry before. What was wrong with her?

Her chest heaved in shock as she clutched the book close to herself. She was so weak. She'd been so frustrated over her own physical weaknesses, that she'd gone and lost it with Gajeel, the one that'd been helping her. That was showing a different sort of weakness, one that she'd never ever thought she'd have problems with. She bowed her head, squinching her eyes shut.

What now? All of that anger and frustration toward him and his help was absolutely diminished. It was as if yelling at him had finally cleared her mind. What was she doing? His help wasn't a bad thing. He'd saved her life for Mavis' sake, more times than she could count. She should've just talked to him. Sure, he was dense as a piece of wood but surely he'd understand. He probably would've offered his help in training, and while no, she didn't exactly want it, that's what partners did. They helped each other.

"Oh, Levy," she whispered to herself. "He's gonna be mad."

And that fact wasn't what bothered her. If he would've gotten angry, scoffed at her and told her she was damn lucky to have him, she would've been fine. It was that shocked and… innocent… look on his face when he'd left. He'd been absolutely stunned and he hadn't given her a snarky retort, he hadn't yelled back, and he hadn't done anything… Gajeel-like at all. She'd really done it this time. He was probably already searching for a new teammate as she sat and berated herself.

That night was one of the longest nights of Levy's life. She couldn't believe that she suddenly was losing sleep and sanity because of the one person she'd been so angry at for nearly a month. She'd done a complete turnaround when it regarded him, all within the course of a minute or so.

She sat staring at the ceiling, book still clutched in her arms all night, thinking through every possibility. She wanted to go talk to him, tell him she was sorry. She knew if someone else had yelled at him like that, he wouldn't have given it a second thought, but coming from someone like her, so timid and quiet, it was probably shocking.

Hell, she was still absolutely flabbergasted herself that she'd even raised her voice.

But she was simply too scared. If he really _was_ upset –which she assumed he was- she should probably give him his space. It would be a very awkward conversation whenever they did have it, but she figured it'd still be better to wait until he wasn't fuming… or hurt… or whatever. He really had looked a little hurt when he'd left.

She figured telling him that she wanted independence would be a little weird. He probably wouldn't understand where she was coming from and therefore would probably just brush it off as her being odd or something. That was the beauty and the horribleness of Gajeel. He wasn't one to pry and he wouldn't delve into conversations unless absolutely necessary. He usually gave space –unless it was her, apparently- and would leave someone alone if they needed it. Which was nice, but also horrible. Because he wouldn't have those heart-to-heart conversations where he could get to know people better. He wouldn't strive to understand other people and their needs, or try to put himself in their shoes. If he didn't understand how someone could feel a certain way, he'd just scoff and say that they were joking or they were having an "off day" or something, and completely disregard everything.

He was so distant, even though he was so close.

Once the night was over, Levy pulled herself reluctantly out of bed. She was a mess, her hair going in every which way and her mind frazzled. She felt as if she'd run a marathon just from all of the circling thoughts she'd had during the night.

She finally decided to put it out of her mind. All she could do now was go and apologize to him and try to make him understand where she'd come from. After that, it was up to him how he'd react which would determine how their partnership would progress. It was out of her hands.

She really wondered if she was making a bigger deal out of this than need be. She hadn't said anything too awfully horrible… but then again… she'd told him to leave her alone, and in her eyes, and possibly his, that meant she'd really wanted to terminate whatever kind of odd relationship they had. Which she didn't; she'd just been angry and hadn't been thinking.

She skulked down the hallway, tossing the book onto her desk and wearily looking toward the window. She sighed, staring at the clouds. It was a perfect day… figured. With her mood she felt like it should be pouring.

And then out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of something that seemed out of place. She looked down to see a piece of furniture she'd been absolutely sure wasn't there yesterday.

She tilted her head, slowly walking over toward the stool. The stool she'd been looking for the past day. It'd been broken and in the closet; it'd ultimately been the reason she'd even yelled at Gajeel in the first place. She frowned down at it. If only she could blame a stool she'd probably feel a lot better.

But it'd been broken. She picked it up, flipping it over and wiggling each of the legs. They were all as sturdy as could be, even the one that'd been completely off and rolling on the floor only a day ago. Her eyebrows knitted together and she carefully set it back onto the floor.

What could have… She saw a tiny scrap of paper taped to the top of the stool that she'd missed the first time. Her heart beat fast as she snatched it off, already figuring who it was from before she opened it, a smile already twitching at her lips.

_"__If ya want some time alone, just say it, Shrimp. I get it. ~G"_

Her eyes softened, a lump rising in her throat as she re-read the note, the smile growing on her face.

That was the beauty of Gajeel. He never said much, but sometimes that's all she needed. To anyone else that note would've sounded short, cut-off, and as if he was maybe still a little upset, but she knew what he'd really meant. He got it. He got how she felt. Maybe he'd only said she needed time alone but she knew he'd understood. He never said or expressed much, but he really did understand her, in a way she couldn't quite grasp.

She blinked, laughing lightly to herself and brushing whatever beginnings of tears had pricked to her eyes.

He'd fixed her stool, and while no, that wasn't a big deal, to her it meant the world. He really was special.

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_The Non-Flash Bingo - 145 - shelf_

**I dunno. I think with Gajeel it's the little things that count. XD Plus, I couldn't ever imagine Levy yelling so this was interesting. XD  
This is also my 50th story! It's a big personal win, and I wanted the fiftieth one to be something NaLu or GaLe-related so GaLe it was. XD  
**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it!**

**~Foxtail-chan**


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